“Shoot ‘Em Up” is essentially a movie about guns and killing people with them in interesting ways, and it deserves credit for never pretending to be anything more than that. Basically everything you need to know happens within the opening five minutes, as the premise is about as simple and clear-cut as it can get.

Mr. Smith (Clive Owen) happens to oversee a pregnant lady attacked by a group of assassins and comes to her rescue, going so far as to deliver the baby amid a torrent of gunfire. Smith, who later gets some help from a local prostitute (Monica Bellucci), then takes it upon himself to keep the baby safe from Hertz (Paul Giamatti) and his platoon of goons, as the conspiracy involving the baby slowly begins to unravel.